Here are the thoughts and images of one who aims humbly for that one treasure known as Enlightenment, Moksha, Nirvana, or The Kingdom of Heaven. I share with the reader the little insight and experience I am given on this quest of Love. I will have nothing new to say, but the way I express it will be genuine and honest. If a single phrase or painting come to be helpful to others, this whole mess will be worth the while.
Well met, traveller.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Blessed Are the Poor No More

Jesus says it is harder for a rich man
to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, than it is for a camel to pass through
the eye of a needle. So poverty should be better, if one aims for
those gates of liberty. One must remember though, that in the days of
Jesus, those who were poor remained poor, and they had basically no
chance to escape poverty. People inherited their social status, and
having a career was simply not an option for the poor back then.
They had to accept their lot in life, and do the best they could of
it.

Today, at least in the west, and
increasingly in other parts of the world, the poor do not necessarily
accept poverty. They may win a lottery, they may be selected to
partake in a television show which brings them fame (and fortune), or
they might through arduous work and luck, escape their unfortunate
inheritance. This new situation makes for a completely different
mental climate.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5-7)
Jesus makes an important distinction. He say “Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It is not
primarily physical poverty that matters, but a poverty in spirit. So,
we ask ourselves, What is a poor spirit? This is how I understand
it:

A wealthy man, does not only have money in the bank, or in
property etc. He also carries his money mentally. He thinks of
himself as rich. Wealth has become part of his identity – his sense
of self. If he loses his money he feels like less of a man. He has
made money important to his mental balance.

One can say that from the pure state of
being, just the simple I AM, the wealthy person typically adds: I AM
rich... not only in conversation, but also in self-identification. He
is no longer poor in spirit. This addition to the pure awareness
(consciousness) that we enter life with, can happen in many other
areas as well, and it seems that that is exactly what most of us
is keeping busy with – to add something to our sense of self. It
might be things like: I am famous, I am powerful, I am skilled in
this or that, I am well educated, I am physically strong, I am beautiful, I am just,
I am spiritually advanced, or perhaps something like; 'at least I'm not like
him/her'.

The spiritual path is exactly the opposite of this.
While you may paint, for example, you do not mentally make yourself
into an Artist. In conversation you may present yourself as an
artist, so that people understand what you do, but you do not add it
to your sense of self. You settle with I AM. You may be: I AM
painting, or I AM framing this drawing, but you never try to become
anything else but Being. You remain poor in spirit. While one paints
for an exhibition and gathers a number of successful paintings in the
studio, it is easy to begin this adding in the mind. One may start to
envision (fantasize) about how the exhibition will bring great
recognition, great sales, and perhaps even glory, but this too is
adding to being. Every single painting, every single stroke, must be
made from scratch, from a mental point of zero. There is no building
to life, because in the end it all comes down again. Mental
structures crumble just as physical ones, but unlike the physical
buildings they hinder our way to The Lord.

The Lord IS. Life
IS. Consciousness IS. It isn't this or that. When we try to become
anything but being, we are busy carving our own domain – our own
reality and tower. Regardless of our level of success, it is a bleak
and tiny castle in the halls of the Universe. This occupation of
enhancing the Ego is, in mythological language, our disobedience of
the laws of Paradise. It is idolatry and the foundation of Sin.
Because of it, we are expelled from the presence of the Lord.

The poor are blessed no more, because
they are now entitled to that same dream of becoming – of rising above
their fellow men, and to hide from the nakedness of being. Though material wealth doesn't equal wealth in the spirit, it is almost
impossible to stay mentally untainted by it. Let us now look at
ourselves and ask the question: What do I fear losing the most? Which
losses would make me feel less of a man or woman? Behind what walls or subtle curtains do I hide my poverty?

“...and
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew
10:39)